Janardana
(“exciting his devotees”) Epithet of the
god Krishna. See Krishna.
Jana Sangh
Modern Indian political party, founded
in 1951 by Shyam Prasad Mookerjee.
Despite Mookerjee’s earlier roots in the
Hindu Mahasabha, a Hindu nationalist
organization, the Jana Sangh’s leader-
ship largely came from workers
dispatched by another conservative
Hindu organization, the Rashtriya
Svayamsevak Sangh(RSS). By the mid-
1950s the Jana Sangh had become the
political arm of the RSS, with RSSmem-
bers filling most of the party’s important
positions. In its political platform the
Jana Sangh espoused many populist
Hindu causes, such as a ban on cow
slaughterand the prohibitionof alco-
holic beverages, but the party was also
noted for its sympathetic orientation
toward farmers, who formed one of its
important constituencies. The Jana
Sangh’s high point came in the 1977 gen-
eral elections, when it won ninety-three
seats in Parliament. It was the largest
single party in the coalition of political
parties that ousted Indira Gandhi’s
Congress Party and ended their two
years of martial law. This triumph quick-
ly turned to failure: the Janata govern-
ment dissolved over the so-called
dual-membership controversy, which
was rooted in concerns over Jana Sangh
members simultaneously being mem-
bers of the RSS. Legislators from other
parties saw this as creating a conflict of
interest and were also wary of their gov-
ernment being directed by the RSS,
which was considered a Hindu chauvin-
ist organization. These outside legisla-
tors demanded that Jana Sangh members
renounce all RSSties, which the latter
were unwilling to do. All attempts at
compromise eventually failed, and after
the Congress Party came back to power
in 1980, the Jana Sangh legislators and
other remnants of the Janata govern-
ment formed a new party, the Bharatiya
Janata Party. For further information
see Walter K. Andersen and Shridhar
D. Damle, The Brotherhood in Saffron,
1987; and Bruce Desmond Graham,
Hindu Nationalism and Indian
Politics,1990.Janeu
The sacred threadworn by all “twice-
born” (dvija) men, as a visible symbol of
having undergone the adolescent reli-
gious initiationknown as the “second
birth.” The janeu is a circular cord made
of three strands (in which each cord also
has three strands), which is worn over
the left shoulder, crossing the body to
fall on the right hip. See sacred thread.Jangama
(“moving”) Priestly subgroup in the
Virashaiva or Lingayat community,
whose members are mainly concentrated
in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
The Virashaivas are a devotional com-
munity who stress the worshipof Shiva
as the only real deity; aside from being
essentially monotheistic, they have also
rejected all forms of image worship
except for Shiva’s symbol, the linga. The
Virashaivas were founded by the poet-
saint Basavanna, partly in rebellion
against the prevailing castesystem, and
he created the jangamas as a parallel
priesthood to care for his community’s
members. The major function of the
jangamas is to officiate at lifecycle cere-
monies for the members of the commu-
nity, such as birth, coming-of-age,
marriage, and death. Jangamas may be
married and raise families, but this
Virashaiva subcommunity also serves as
the major source of recruits for the celi-
bate Virashaiva monks (viraktas), who
have the highest status as religious lead-
ers in the community.Janmashtami
Festival on the eighth day (ashtami)
of the dark (waning) half of the lunar
month of Bhadrapada (August–
September), which is celebrated as the
god Krishna’s birthday. As with allJanardana